The present invention relates generally to interface devices and similar products. More particularly, the invention relates to techniques for customizing such devices, such as for supporting different original equipment manufacturers, standards, looks and feel, and so forth.
A wide range of interface devices are known and are presently in use in many different fields. In industrial automation, for example, human machine interfaces or “HMIs” are commonly employed for monitoring or controlling various processes. The HMIs may read from or write to specific registers such that they can reflect the operating state of various machines, sensors, processes, and so forth. The interfaces can also write to registers and memories such that they can, to some extent, control the functions of the process. In monitoring functions alone, little or no actual control is executed. In many other settings similar devices are employed, such as in automobiles, aircraft, commercial settings, and a host of other applications. In many applications, the interface may not communicate with a remote device or process, but may be operated in a stand-alone manner.
One particular challenge in the design and configuration of interface devices involves the customization of software and appearance of the devices. For example, many original equipment manufactures may acquire interface devices from a, manufacturer, but desire to provide their own “look and feel” to the interface or both from a physical and software standpoints. That is, an original equipment manufacturer may desire that one or all screen views on an interface reflect their own unique logos, color schemes, visual arrangements, and so forth. While existing interface device configurations permit some degree of customization in this manner, the customization is often complex and relatively inconvenient.
Improved systems are therefore needed for customizing interface devices. There is a particular need for techniques that allow for ready customization for various resellers that are simple and straightforward to implement while providing a wide range of programming functions for the particular applications to be run on the interface devices.